Thunderbird suddenly has decided not to receive emails.

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[OscarCP]

Thunderbird, again: now, after working fine all the time for some weeks, today included, until this very moment, it now has decided not to take in any more emails and has put the following message (shown in the attached GIF). By the way: the button with the hardly visible writing actually says “OK”. This is  one more of TB’s exclusives.

If someone knows of some rather simple way around of it, I’ll be grateful, particularly as long as I learn about it before I eviscerate TB and then I am reduced to finding some other client that actually works and, most specially, works well with macOS Big Sur.

(moderator edit of image to remove email address)

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

• This topic was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by OscarCP.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by Susan Bradley.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by Susan Bradley.

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Typically it’s a cloud issue.  Give it an hour or so and see if it clears up.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

1 user thanked author for this post.

OscarCP

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Thanks Susan.

An unbelievable huge thanks, in fact.

Let me know if you need help to take it to the car, if it is too much by yourself!

Oscar

 

 

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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I have no idea if this is a Mac vs. Thunderbird glitch, or whether the server has a hiccup.
1 – Is this a repeatable error? I sometimes have had a ‘should not occur’ error which spontaneously clears, perhaps after a TB Close/Open.
2 – Does the error repeat when you turn off the three options indicated? Or are they already unchecked?
3 – Note: The ‘maximum message size’ setting is on the Disk panel, not on the Server Settings panel.

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PaulK: I have no idea what those things are, so I also do not know if there is a way to set them right that does not mean performing major surgery of uncertain outcome to the patient, this being my Mac in the first place. So I really have no idea of what to do about it and I am asking for help in case someone has.

“UIDL” “XTND” and “XLST”, named as causing the problem in the TB error message look to me like IMAP server instructions, so of course they won’t work with a POP server, that is the one that receives the mail with TB, in my case.

I still have another flaky client I tried to replace with TB that I can use as my of present last resort.

I hope that, as you and Susan are saying, each in its own way, it might happen, this thing settles back to working, as spontaneously as, from my point of view, it begun to not work: as it looks to me, entirely out of the blue, from one moment to the next.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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“To download your mail, turn off these options in the Server Settings for your mail server in the Account Settings window.”

Menu Bar: Tools > Account Settings > [account name] > Server Settings > [section on panel] Server Settings.
– and –
Tools > Account Settings > [account name] > Disk Space

I agree with Susan. These types of errors ‘out of the blue’ usually have short duration.

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Thanks, Paul.

I’ll have a look and, if it does not took too dangerously irreversible to go on …

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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PaulK, I have looked as you advised, and: my incoming server is  a “POP” (POP3, actually), it is setup as such, and none of those things TB is complaining about are there, because they probably belong in an IMAP server. Also noting looking out of the ordinary in “Disk Space.”

I hope Susan is right and something has been messed up temporarily in some server out there, in the “Cloud.” Otherwise …

For now I have forced-quit TB, which is about as dead, for the time  being, as I can get it to be. Tomorrow I’ll restart it and try again.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Well, Glory, Glory Hallelujah! Pass the communion wine, hold the wafers!

Susan was right, or so it seems based on the results:

TB is back from wherever it went in its previous confused state and is receiving emails again, as it is normally expected to do. For how long, though? And what other awful thing, if not this one again, shall it pull on me next time? Watch this space.

And did I tell you already how much I hate TB?

Well, just in case I did not, look here: I really, cordially hate TB.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

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OscarCP wrote:

Well, just in case I did not, look here: I really, cordially hate TB.

Why no dump TB ?

https://zapier.com/blog/best-email-client-for-mac/ TB isn’t on that list.

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This is on a Mac (M1 MacMini with ARM as a matter of fact) so it will be the same as yours.
Those things ARE there if you just look. Screenshot is “Server Settings”
Checking a box turns the function ON, unchecking turns it OFF (a toggle).
If you have more than one email account, you will need to do the same for all of them.
Tools\Account Settings
Highlight “Server Settings”
Highlight “Disk Space”

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It is worth looking at Thunderbird bug 1577548, which , I believe, I opened.  The fix was included in Thunderbird around November, 2021.  The problem was that Thunderbird, during a POP3 attempt at downloading new mail, received a “-ERR [SYS/TEMP] Server error – Please try again later.”  message, which Thunderbird did not parse correctly.  This caused Thunderbird to stop checking for new mail until Thunderbird was stopped and restarted.  I had this problem for many years,  and everyone online told me that the mail server must have been down until (magically) I restarted Thunderbird.  I knew that the problem would vanish when I restarted Thunderbird, whether it was one minute or 24 hours since the failure.  I do not have the version of Thunderbird that contained the fix, as I was running at that time the Daily build to test new fixes.

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